Backgroundrb devel - Mar 2009 - Reload ActiveRecord before calling worker?

I recently ran into a problem where BackgroundDRb would get stuck on a  
request invoked like this:

class SomeModel < ActiveRecord::Base
   ..
   def start_work
     update_attribute(:state, ''working'')

     MiddleMan.worker(:some_worker).async_do_work(:arg =>  
{ :some_model => self })
   end
   ...
end

What seems to be causing the problem is the call to update_attribute  
before worker is called.  But if I insert a "self.reload" between  
those two calls, it works.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Eric